Accepted for/Published in: JMIR mHealth and uHealth
Date Submitted: Jun 10, 2020
Date Accepted: Jul 23, 2020
Testing Wearable UV Sensors to Improve Sun Protection in Young Adults at an Outdoor Festival: Field Study
ABSTRACT
Background:
Australia and New Zealand have the highest melanoma incidence rates globally. In the state of Queensland, Australia, melanoma is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in young people aged 15-29 years.
Objective:
This field study tested the effectiveness of wearable ultraviolet (UV) sensors to increase sun protection habits and prevent sunburn in adolescents.
Methods:
During the school leavers outdoor festival (November 2019) at the Gold Coast, Australia, registered attendees aged 15-19 years of age were recruited into the field study. Participants were provided with a wearable UV sensor and free sunscreen. The primary outcome was sun exposure practices using the sun protection habits index. Secondary outcomes were self-reported sunburns, sunscreen use and satisfaction with the wearable UV sensor.
Results:
663 participants enrolled in the study, and complete data was available for 188 participants (28% response rate). Participants provided with a wearable UV sensor significantly improved their use of sunglasses (p=0.004), and sunscreen use both on the face (p<0.001) and other parts of the body (p=0.005). While the use of long-sleeve shirts (p<0.001) and use of a hat (p<0.001) decreased. During the week-long study period, 31.4% (n=59) of participants reported receiving one or more sunburns. Satisfaction with the wearable UV sensor was high with 73% (n=138/188) of participants reporting the sensor was helpful to remind them to use sun protection.
Conclusions:
Devices that target health behaviours whilst outdoors such as wearable UV sensors may improve sunscreen and sunglasses usage in adolescents. Clinical Trial: Australian and New Zealand clinical trials register (ACTRN12619000976189).
Citation
Per the author's request the PDF is not available.
Copyright
© The authors. All rights reserved. This is a privileged document currently under peer-review/community review (or an accepted/rejected manuscript). Authors have provided JMIR Publications with an exclusive license to publish this preprint on it's website for review and ahead-of-print citation purposes only. While the final peer-reviewed paper may be licensed under a cc-by license on publication, at this stage authors and publisher expressively prohibit redistribution of this draft paper other than for review purposes.